August 10, 2009

–Sufjan Stevens has announced an intimate fall tour. In what Asthmatic Kitty Records are calling an “east-of-Lake-Minnetonka tour,” the run focuses on eastern states, kicking off September 21st at Philly’s 250-capacity Johnny Brenda’s. Stevens wraps the tour with four New York dates: October 4th and 5th at the Bowery Ballroom, and October 6th and 7th at Brooklyn’s Music Hall of Williamsburg. California indie labelmates Cryptacize will join Stevens on several dates. Tickets go on sale Saturday. To avoid scalpers, you’ll need to pick up tickets at will call the night of the show with a photo ID. Check Asthmatic Kitty’s site for more details.

–Lollapolooza wrapped up last night with headlining sets from The Killers and Jane’s Addiction. Jane’s played a dozen songs, including a take on “Jane Says” with guest Joe Perry (Perry’s band just postponed their Canadian tour). Tool played an All Points West-similar Saturday set, full of glowsticks and creepy stage videos. The same day, the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s set saw Karen O take the stage in a crown constructed of cardboard human hands. After Lollapalooza died down last night, the Josh Homme/Dave Grohl/John Paul Jones supergroup Them Crooked Vultures made their live debut with a sold out gig at Chicago’s Metro. The Chicago Tribune reports the band played an 80 minute set of all-original heavy rock.

–U2 tops Billboard’s Hot Tours list, which is the sort of thing that happens when you book three shows in one shot at an 80,000 capacity stadium in Dublin.

–Folk music historian and musician Mike Seeger died Friday at his home in Lexington, Virginia. The New York Times reports the cause was multiple myeloma, a form of cancer. He was 75. Seeger was one-third of ’60s folk revivalists the New Lost City Ramblers, whose repertoire consisted of largely otherwise-forgotten songs from the ’20s and ’30s. He was the half-brother of Pete Seeger (here’s the Ramblers performing “Man of Constant Sorrow” on Pete Seeger’s mid ’60s television show.) The band was a major inspiration on Bob Dylan when he moved to New York in his early twenties. Dylan wrote about Mike Seeger in his 2004 autobiography, Chronicles: “As for being a folk musician, he was the supreme archetype. He could push a stake through Dracula’s black heart. He was the romantic, egalitarian and revolutionary type all at once.”